Furniture construction

ABSTRACT

Tables and stools of inexpensive and simple yet rugged construction are made from plate members spaced by a hollow post and held in assembled relation by a single draw bolt. The plate members of the disclosed stool are both disc-shaped and a seat back is optionally secured to the upper plate member. The disclosed lower plate member of the table is formed with four horizontally projecting legs. Stiffening ribs and supplementary supports are also provided when the table top is so large as to require additional support. All of the parts of the tables and stools are so designed that various heights and diameters of tables and stools can easily be made.

United States Patent [1 1 Dybvig [451 Sept. 4, 1973 FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION [75] Inventor: Philip M. Dybvig, Dallas, Tex.

[73] Assignee: Philip Specialty Company, Grand Prairie, Tex.

[22] Filed: Mar. 8, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 121,895

[52] US. Cl 108/105, 108/158, 248/158 [51] Int. Cl A47b 13/02 [58] Field of Search 108/42, 150, 157-159;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,181,913 5/1965 Guido et al. 297/462 Primary Examiner-James C. Mitchell Attorney-Dybvig & Dybvig [5 7 ABSTRACT Tables and stools of inexpensive and simple yet rugged construction are made from plate members spaced by a hollow post and held in assembled relation by a single draw bolt. The plate members of the disclosed stool are both disc-shaped and a seat back is optionally secured to the upper plate member. The disclosed lower plate member of the table is formed with four horizontally projecting legs. stiffening ribs and supplementary supports are also provided when the table top is so large as to require additional support. All of the parts of the tables and stools are so designed that various heights and diameters of tables and stools can easily be made.

9 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEDSEP 4 ma HIS A TTORNE YS FURNITURE CONSTRUCTION BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to furniture constructions and more particularly to table and stool constructions having appealing designs and especially suited for rugged useby persons of all ages. Other table and stool designs are known but none embody the simplicity of construction and assembly of the present invention.

In accordance with this invention, the furniture constructions include upper and lower base plates spaced apart by a hollow tubular post. These members are all held together by a single draw bolt assembly extending through aligned openings in them. The draw bolt assembly has an enlarged head received in a recess or counterbore in the top surface of the upper plate and the final assembly is made by fastening the draw bolt in a rigid position by a holding device, such as a nut, received in a recess or counterbore in the bottom surface of the lower plate.

The upper plates, whether for use as stools or tables, may simply be disc-shaped plates and the lower plates may either be disc-shaped or may be formed with horizontally extending legs. In all cases the horizontal extent of the upper plate can easily be varied or customized to suit the needs of the user simply by changing its size. The desired height of the furniture is obtained simply by cutting the posts and draw bolts to the desired lengths.

The confronting faces of the upper and lower plates are provided with annular grooves receiving the ends of the post, and the draw bolt is located centrally of the post. Accordingly, when the draw bolt assembly is tightened, the upper and lower plates are, in effect, pulled together at the center of the post and the post, in effect, tends to spread the upper and lower plates apart whereupon an unusually stable and rigid construction is obtained as a result of the opposing forces applied to both plates.

The upper and lower plates may be made from any desired material and hardwood chip board or flakeboard can conveniently be used. When, for example, flakeboard is used as the upper plate, the tubular post is sufficient to support it provided that the plate is not too large. It is possible, however, to provide tables having a relatively large upper plate without using relatively thick board by providing supplementary supports which are spaced from the post and which extend between the upper and lower plates. In accordance with this invention, such supplementary supports can simply comprise vertically extending rods or tubes received within sockets or depressions formed in the confronting faces of the upper and lower plates. For added strength, the upper and lower plates of tables are desirably stronger than the upper and lower plates of stools. Additional strength can be obtained by adhering two pieces of commercially available sheet material together. More particularly, in the table top construction a web or ribbing construction may be adhered to the underside of the upper plate. By virtue of the construction of this invention, a wide variety of tables and stools may be manufactured using plastic tubes as the post with the plastic tubes all having a common diameter, the tubes merely being cut to the desired length for manufacturing tables and stools of various heights. The stool and table bases and seats or tops can all be made from the desired thickness sheet material and, where added strength is necessary, pieces of the sheet material can be glued together in face-to-face relation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a stool made in accordance with this invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross sectional view of the stool taken along section line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the portion of the stool enclosed within the circular section line 3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one form of table construction made in accordance with this invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view of the table construction of FIG. 4 taken along section line 5-5 thereof.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the portion of the table enclosed within the circular section line 6 of FIG. 5'.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged sectional view of the portion of the table enclosed within the circular section line 7 of FIG. 5.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS With reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, a stool generally designated 10 is shown which embodies the features of this invention. The stool 10 consists of an upper plate 12 forming a seat and supported by a pedestal consisting of a lower plate 14 and a tubular post 16. As shown in FIG. 2, the confronting faces of the upper plate 12 and the lower plate 14 have shallow annular grooves 18 and 20, respectively, receiving the: opposite ends of the post 16. The grooves 18 and 20 assist in aligning the parts and also in holding them together. The parts are held in a final assembled relation by a draw bolt 22 extending vertically along the center axis of the post 16 and through aligned apertures in the plates 12 and 14. The draw bolt 22 is provided with an enlarged head 24 located in a counterbore or depression in the top surface of the upper plate 12, the depth of the counterbore being substantially equal to the thickness of the enlarged head portion 24, whereupon the top surface of the enlarged head 24 is coplanar with the top surface of the upper plate 12. The lower end of the draw bolt 22 may be threaded as shown in FIG. 3 and receives a washer 26 and a threaded nut 28 which, when tightened, causes the plates 12 and 14 to be drawn firmly against the end margins of the post 16. The bottom surface of the lower plate 14 may be counterbored as indi' cated at 30 for receiving the washer 26 and the nut 28.

Both the upper plate 12 and the lower plate 14 may be disc-shaped and cut from sheet material such as flakeboard or the like. As illustrated, both may have a circular configuration when viewed in plan, although of course other shapes could be used. If circular, the draw bolt 22 preferablyextends centrally through both of the plates 12 and 14 as illustrated. Thelower plate 14 preferably has a smaller diameter than the upper plate 12 so that one may conveniently sit on the upper plate 12 without having the lower plate 14 significantly interfere with the position of his feet.

The hollow post 16 is preferably made from relatively thin-walled plastic tubing although it also could be made from wood or other material and the wall thickness could be greater than that illustrated. It is preferably formed as a right-angled cylinder so as to mount the upper plate 12 in parallel relation to the lower plate 14 to provide a perfectly horizontal seat.

The parts as thus far described are sufficient to form a stool for general use. Because the draw bolt assembly including the bolt 22 and the nut 28 tends to pull the centers of the plates 12 and 14 toward one another, thus firmly trapping the ends of the post 16 in the grooves 18 and 20, the assembled stool is of a highly rigid construction.

It will be appreciated that the stool '10 could be shipped in a disassembled condition from a manufacturer to a consumer and assembled with very little difficulty or skill required on the part of the user. The stools may be made with relatively short posts 16 and draw bolts 22 for children and longer posts 16 and draw bolts 22 for adults. In the manufacture of the stools, the posts 16 are cut to the desired size from longer pieces of plastic piping or the like. The draw bolts 22 may conveniently be made by welding stainless steel heads to the rod portions thereof.

A seat back can conveniently be provided, as illustrated, by the attachment of L-shaped brackets 32 to the undersides of the upper plate 12 and the attachment of a wooden strip or the like 34 to the upwardly extending legs of the brackets 32. Rubber coated tacks 36 or other pad members may be affixed to the bottom surfaces of the lower plate 14.

FIGS. 4 7 illustrate one form of a table which is generally indicated 40 constructed upon the same principles as the stool 10. The table 40 consists of an upper plate 42, a lower plate 44, a tubular post 46 spacing the upper and lower plates 42 and 44 and a draw bolt assembly including a draw bolt 48 and a nut 50 holding the plates 42 and 44 and the post 46 in assembled relation.

The lower plate 44, in contrast to the lower plate 14 of the stool 10, is in the form of an X and has four radially extending horizontal legs 52 joining at a hub or center 54 upon which the post 46 is mounted. For added strength, the lower plate 44 may be made from two pieces of sheet material 56 and 58, each having the same thickness as the stool plates 12 and 14, the confronting faces of which are adhesively or otherwise secured together. To achieve a pleasing design, the legs and center section of the upper sheet 56 are narrower than the corresponding portions of the lower sheet 58 forming the lower plate 44. Of course, the plate 44 could be made simply from thicker stock than the stool plates 12 and 14. Two sheets laminated together is preferred because it is simpler to vary the design effects using two sheets and further because an economy of manufacture is obtained by using only a single thickness of sheet stock for all of the plates from which the tables and stools are made.

The upper plate 42 of the table 40 is preferably circular in horizontal extent as illustrated and, depending upon the usage to which it is to be applied, may be made from the same sheet material as the stool plates 12 and 14 and as the sheets 56 and 58. For some applications the table upper plate 42 may have a laminated plastic covering (not shown) as is common in the furniture industry. The upper plate 42 is mounted directly upon the post 46 in the same manner the stool upper plate 12 is mounted on its post 16. However, where larger table tops are desired, the upper plate 42 includes a stiffening rib member 60 on its underside having four radially projecting ribs 60a. As may be seen from FIGS. 4 and 5, the rib member 60 may be cut identically to the upper sheet .56 of the lower plate 44 and adhered to the sheet 42a from which the principal part of the plate 42 is formed. Of course, the plate 42 with the rib member 60 could be made from a single piece of material molded for formed to the shape illustrated. Still additional support may be provided by vertically extending supplementary support rods 62 extending between the upper plate 42 and the lower plate 44. The upper ends of the supplementary support rods 62 are received in sockets or depressions 64 counterbored in the confronting faces of the rib member 60 and the lower plate 44. As shown in FIG. 4, the rods 62 are preferably located in mutually equally circumferentially spaced relation and at equal radial spacings from the vertical centerline of the post 46.

As with the stool 10, the upper end of the draw bolt 48 is provided with an enlarged head 66 received within a mating counterbore or recess 68 centrally located in the top surface of the upper plate 42 with the top surface of the head 66 coplanar with the plate top surface. The confronting faces of the upper and lower plates 42 and 44 are provided with shallow annular grooves 70 receiving the opposite ends of the post 46 so that when the parts are assembled they are rigidly held together. The post 46 is preferably cut to a rightangled cylinder configuration from the same plastic tubing used to form the stool post 16.

From the foregoing it will be noted that a furniture construction is provided by this invention satisfying the objects of the invention and enabling the mass production of tables and stools having a minimum number of parts. The horizontal extent of the table tops and bases can be changed simply by cutting the upper and lower plates to different sizes. Also the tables can be manufactured to customers desired heights by simply cutting the draw bolts 48 and the plastic piping forming the central support or post 46 to the appropriate lengths.

The table 40 illustrated in FIGS. 4 7 can be assembled by first inserting the draw bolt 48 through the opening in the upper plate 42, then inverting the table top assembly and inserting the post 46 and the supplementary support rods 62 in place. The lower plate 44 is then properly positioned and the nut 50 tightened to draw the upper plate 42 and the lower plate 44 together. The resultant structure is quite rigid. Essentially the same steps are followed in assembling a table such as the table 40 but without the support rods 62. If desired, epoxy or the like adhesive may be used to secure the ends of the post 46 in the grooves 70.

The economies of manufacture of the furniture construction provided by this invention should be apparent. It is preferable in all cases that the draw bolts 22 and 48 extend along the vertical centerline of the fumiture constructions so that the locations of the grooves receiving the ends of the posts 16 and 46 can easily be determined from the centerlines of the plates and a simple template can be used to locate the positions of the counterbores 64 if such are provided for receiving the supplementary support rods 62.

Although the presently preferred embodiments of the invention have been described, it will be understood that within the purview of this invention various changes may be made within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. Furniture construction comprising an upper plate member, a lower plate member, a tubular post separating said plate members, confronting faces of said plate members having annular grooves therein, said tubular post comprising a hollow tube formed as a right angled cylinder, the ends of which are received by said annular grooves, and a draw bolt assembly extending along the vertical centerline of the furniture construction through aligned openings in said plate members and through said post, said draw bolt assembly holding all parts of said furniture construction in assembled relation and including a draw bolt having an enlarged head located within a recess in one of said upper plate member and said lower plate member and a nut threadedly engaging an end of said draw bolt and received within a recess in the other of said upper plate member and said lower plate member.

2. The construction of claim 1 wherein said upper plate member is disc-shaped and is circular in a horizontal plane. i

3. The construction of claim 2 wherein said lower plate member is formed with a centrally located hub portion and has horizontal leg members projecting from said hub portion.

4. The construction of claim 3 wherein the upper and lower surfaces of both said upper plate member and said lower plate member are substantially planar, said enlarged head having a top surface substantially coplanar with said top surface of said upper plate member, and said enlarged head substantially filling the recess receiving it whereupon the combined top surfaces of said upper plate member and said enlarged head are substantially planar and continuous.

5. The construction of claim 2 wherein said lower plate member is disc-shaped and is circular in a horizontal plane, said upper plate member having a larger diameter than said lower plate member.

6. The construction of claim 1 wherein said upper plate member has plural horizontally extending ribs on its lower surface and wherein plural supplementary support rods extend between said ribs and said lower plate member, the ends of said rods being received in sockets formed in confronting faces of said ribs and said lower plate member.

7. The construction of claim 6 wherein said supplementary support rods are substantially equally mutually circumferentially spaced and wherein each is located at substantially the same radial distance from the vertical centerline of said tubular post.

8. In a furniture construction of the type having a base member, a central support and a top member providing a top surface of substantial horizontal extent mounted on said support, the improvement wherein all parts of said furniture construction are held in assembled relation by a single draw bolt assembly projecting completely through aligned centrally located openings in each of said base member, said central support and said top member, said draw bolt assembly including a vertical draw bolt having an enlarged head located within a recess in one of said top member and said base member and a nut threadedly engaging an end of said draw bolt and received within a recess in the other of said top member and said base member.

9. The construction of claim 8 wherein said enlarged head is recessed in the top surface of said top member and the top surface of said head is substantially coplanar with the top surface of said top member, and said enlarged head substantially fills the recess receiving it whereupon the combined top surfaces of said top member and said enlarged head are substantially planar and continuous.

Patent No. 3,756 l69 Dated September L, 197'} Inventor(s) Philip M. Dybvig It is certified that error appears in the abo ve identified' patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Item 56 References Cited, should include the following: 1302 279 l/Zl/jl Schmitt 3,5939 9 7/ /7 zim r y 954x 94 W 5 l 5 46 7/21/25 Deinhart 2 918 2 68 12/22/59 Johnsonet al Column L, line 6, "for" should be --or---.

Signed and sealed this 18th day of iDeoember l973.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD Mo FLETCHER JRO RENE Da TEGTMEYER Atteszting Officer Acting Commissioner of Patents FORM PC4050 $69) USCO'MM-DC 60376-1 69 FEDVERyMiNT PRfPiTING OFFICE I 959 O-'355'334 

1. Furniture construction comprising an upper plate member, a lower plate member, a tubular post separating said plate members, confronting faces of said plate members having annular grooves therein, said tubular post comprising a hollow tube formed as a right angled cylinder, the ends of which are received by said annular grooves, and a draw bolt assembly extending along the vertical centerline of the furniture construction through aligned openings in said plate members and through said post, said draw bolt assembly holding all parts of said furniture construction in assembled relation and including a draw bolt having an enlarged head located within a recess in one of said upper plate member and said lower plate member and a nut threadedly engaging an end of said draw bolt and received within a recess in the other of said upper plate member and said lower plate member.
 2. The construction of claim 1 wherein said upper plate member is disc-shaped and is circular in a horizontal plane.
 3. The construction of claim 2 wherein said lower plate member is formed with a centrally located hub portion and has horizontal leg members projecting from said hub portion.
 4. The construction of claim 3 wherein the upper and lower surfaces of both said upper plate member and said lower plate member are substantialLy planar, said enlarged head having a top surface substantially coplanar with said top surface of said upper plate member, and said enlarged head substantially filling the recess receiving it whereupon the combined top surfaces of said upper plate member and said enlarged head are substantially planar and continuous.
 5. The construction of claim 2 wherein said lower plate member is disc-shaped and is circular in a horizontal plane, said upper plate member having a larger diameter than said lower plate member.
 6. The construction of claim 1 wherein said upper plate member has plural horizontally extending ribs on its lower surface and wherein plural supplementary support rods extend between said ribs and said lower plate member, the ends of said rods being received in sockets formed in confronting faces of said ribs and said lower plate member.
 7. The construction of claim 6 wherein said supplementary support rods are substantially equally mutually circumferentially spaced and wherein each is located at substantially the same radial distance from the vertical centerline of said tubular post.
 8. In a furniture construction of the type having a base member, a central support and a top member providing a top surface of substantial horizontal extent mounted on said support, the improvement wherein all parts of said furniture construction are held in assembled relation by a single draw bolt assembly projecting completely through aligned centrally located openings in each of said base member, said central support and said top member, said draw bolt assembly including a vertical draw bolt having an enlarged head located within a recess in one of said top member and said base member and a nut threadedly engaging an end of said draw bolt and received within a recess in the other of said top member and said base member.
 9. The construction of claim 8 wherein said enlarged head is recessed in the top surface of said top member and the top surface of said head is substantially coplanar with the top surface of said top member, and said enlarged head substantially fills the recess receiving it whereupon the combined top surfaces of said top member and said enlarged head are substantially planar and continuous. 